Thursday, April 11, 2013

No chance – but that doesn’t take anything away from this
simple, delicious, and quite dip-able roasted parsnips recipe. As I mention in
the video, I was inspired by some grilled parsnips that showed up as a side
dish at a recent meal, and I wanted that same effect without having to go out to the
backyard.

The combination of a very hot oven, the generous cooking time, and
a pre-roast, lemon-olive oil soak gets you pretty close to grill marks country. Also, this method seems to mellow the root’s bold flavor, and while the outside
remains pleasantly fibrous, the inside gets creamy and sweet.

One note about the use of lemonhere: As anyone who
has ever tried to cook raw green beans in a tomato sauce will tell you, an
acidic cooking liquid can toughen the surface of a vegetable. I learned
whyin culinary school, but that was in 1984, and I’m kind of fuzzy on
anything before the Clinton administration. I’m sure one of our resident
scientists will chime in with a concise explanation.

Anyway, whether you’re looking for a new and exciting side
dish, or something to dip into aioli besides potatoes, I hope you give this
oven “grilled” parsnips recipe a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 servings:

2 pounds parsnipsjuice of one lemon2 tbsp olive oilsalt and pepper to taste*Aleppo pepper, to taste

*Aleppo pepper is my new favorite ground chili pepper! It’s a
moderately hot and fruity pepper that’s said to have “cumin-like undertones,” as Wikipedia puts it. For more information, click here.

I have roasted many parsnips to a creamy delicious delight. I made this today and it was a waste of two pounds of parsnips. I'm hoping that it was because the parsnips I found were somewhat skinnier/more spindly than usual and, thus, too tough to make this work. But I suspect that the lemon was at least partially to blame, plus the lemon created a bad after taste. If I omit the lemon entirely, will I get same nice roasted/grilled appearance on the exterior with less chewiness?